Paintball Accessories

Paintball is one of the most popular of adrenaline pumping games, with over 10 million players in the United States alone. The very basic premise with Paintball games add to its rising popularity, defining it as to what it is known for today. Often referred to as “war games” or “sniper games”, the basic concept of paintball is to eliminate opposing players from the game by marking them out of play using paintballs.

Paintballs are generally spherical gelatin balls made of non-toxic water soluble substances, polyethylene glycol and dye. These paintballs are propelled by compressed air guns, and are quite safe to use. Even with its rather “unsafe nature”, Paintball games are quite safe, even ranked as one of the safest of sports. All this is made possible through the use of paintball accessories, which enable paintball players to do what they do in a paintball game, safely.

The first of paintball accessories to ever be used in a paintball game was the Nelspot 007 agricultural gun from the Nelson Paint Company. The Nelson Paint Company has manufactured such “paintball accessories” since the 1950s, and was primarily used by cattle owners in marking their cattle from a distance, as well as members of the forestry service, in marking trees from a distance.

The first paintball game, which happened in June 27, 1981, was played by twelve players who used the Nelspot 007 line of “paintball accessories”. Two of those players, Hayes Noel and Bob Gurnsey, are known to have set paintball onto the track it is on now, thus bringing paintball to where it is today.

Today, various paintball accessories are available for recreational paintball players, as well as more serious paintball enthusiasts. The most “basic” of paintball accessories and equipment includes a paintball firing device, in the form of compressed air guns, the actual paintballs, and a protective mask, which keeps a player’s face and eyes safe from any accidental hits. More serious paintball accessories and gear include, knee pads, elbow pads, chest protectors, throat protectors, paintball bags, for storing extra “ammo” paintballs, swabs or squeegees for cleaning out a barrel, should there be a need, and the numerous paintball apparel, ranging from clothing items, to shoes, even to “survival” equipment.

As with any other sport, the best of paintball accessories and gear don’t necessarily result to better players, but rather poor quality paintball accessories and gear would definitely negatively affect one’s paintball game.